Around fifteen people remained, and they drew their swords one after another.
“Hey, why not let us go? None of us will have to get hurt that way. You don’t look like the most loyal people to me anyway.” Zen’s words held no intention to fight, nor a desire to ridicule them. He was fully sincere in making that proposal.
“Shut up!” The unruly officers gradually tightened their circle around Zen and Mina. The ones who’d been vying for a one-on-one match against her before weren’t hesitating to take advantage of their numbers now. With how they held their swords with their shoulders and elbows jutting out, they were like cats with their fur standing on end.
Based on sheer numbers, it should have been Zen who trembled in fear, but instead it was the men surrounding him, overwhelmed by his quiet might.
As for Zen, he assumed a stance that was the complete opposite of theirs.
No, could this even be called a stance? All he was doing was standing there casually, loosely holding his sword, his body completely relaxed. He bore a close resemblance to that man with the three-eyed dragon tattoo who’d defeated Mina.
“Now!”
“Right!”
One after another, Zen took down the officers who came in all at once with their swords.
With a brief “Excuse me,” he put his left hand around Mina’s waist and held her close to his side as he wielded his sword with his right. And as he struck back against the officers, he always aimed for their right arms. Without taking their lives, he rendered them powerless by chopping off their dominant hands.
It should be easy to evade once you realize that, though, Mina thought, being a soldier herself. Once they understood that he was only coming for their arms, the officers should have been able to protect themselves accordingly.
But despite how easy it should have been, they were still being mowed down. That would have been impossible if not for a significant difference in skill.
“You monster!” One of the officers launched himself from behind with a sword. Mina couldn’t react at all since the attack had come from her blind spot.
However, in a counterattack, Zen whipped around and cut off the man’s right arm.
“Does he have eyes in the back of his head?!”
“Is that even possible?!”
The officers were flabbergasted. They were Mina’s enemies, but she understood their reactions painfully well.
She reflected back on the battle with the twintail fox. Back then, Zen had been facing off against the monster alone as he effortlessly evaded the rain of their allies’ arrows. It had been a superhuman feat that was so indescribable, you could only wonder if he had some supernatural power to see behind him.
“Why don’t we stop already?” Zen asked the four officers who remained. He’d sent eleven of their comrades’ hands flying and had them writhing in pain on the ground. “Shouldn’t you patch them up? You’re brothers, aren’t you? Isn’t that more important than being Stoga’s loyal dogs?”
“O-Okay...”
“We surrender...”
The remaining four threw down their swords. Zen nodded once, and they rushed over to their friends, who were gasping in agony. The officers tore up their military uniforms to use as bandages and tightly bound their comrades’ right arms to stop the bleeding.
“Well done, Sir Zen!” Mina exclaimed. “Let’s hurry and return to the inn. Miss Elysia is waiting for us.”
“I’m sorry, Lady Mina. Does your wound hurt very badly?”
“Huh?”
Zen removed his hand from her waist and examined her right shoulder. While she was perplexed at why he didn’t want to go home immediately, she admitted, “To be honest, it hurts a lot. But it’s not unbearable.”
“I really am sorry, then. But can you hang in there a little longer?”
Mina blinked repeatedly. She found Zen’s words increasingly perplexing. “I’m a knight. It’s my duty to endure pain when necessary. However, what are you planning to do?”
“I was thinking about apprehending Stoga, is all.”
“Whaaat?!” Mina let out a hysterical cry. His words were just so absurd. “What are you saying?! Explain this right now!”
“Um, well... Where to start...”
“I want to hear it from start to finish!”
At Mina’s demand, he told her, “I understand,” and, despite looking extremely awkward, began his explanation. “I made a show of how I was going to go off and obtain physical proof of Stoga’s treason, but honestly, that was only if it was within the scope of something I could reasonably handle alone. As a mere minor official, I didn’t think I should get involved in anything beyond that.”
He’s as reckless as always. Her face stiffened, probably from the pain in her shoulder.
“But I felt so moved when I saw that you came to save me, Lady Mina. Your heart truly is that of a knight, not a guard. I was deeply moved when I realized you weren’t someone who could turn a blind eye.”
“Um... Well...”
You’re the one who can’t turn a blind eye, she thought.
I saw the way you acted, and it moved me, she thought.
You’re saying these things, but it’s actually the other way around, she thought.
“That’s why I felt I should take a page from your book and do something above and beyond my duties.”
But for some reason, it made her so happy to hear those words that she burst into tears.
Somehow, she truly felt her efforts had been rewarded.
She felt seen.
For some reason, she just kept crying.
Zen scratched his cheek awkwardly. “So, instead of getting ahold of that physical evidence and leaving the rest to others, maybe I’ll go and catch him myself. You’ll come with me, won’t you? It’s definitely dangerous, but I won’t tell you to go home anymore.”
“Of course!” She said it with her full chest. When Zen was the one asking that of her, the pain from her shoulder just flew away.